<Nicolas> [You just turned on a laptop.]
<Nicolas> [Eui, specifically.]
<Nicolas> [Theo found shades.]
<Nicolas> [You're all in the conference room, I believe.]
<Nicolas> [Except Miya, who is by the stairs.]
<Nicolas> [And Terry just headed over to check it out.]
<Nicolas> [It's raining outside.]
<Nicolas> [Resume.]
* Theodore leans his metal tray and mop against the wall. He gets out his 
notepad and takes general notes as Eui works. "Ah batteries. What would we do 
without energy storage?" The way he says it sounds a tad affected.
* Eui-Tae cracks his knuckles and gets to work hacking into the system. Ah, 
Gates, what would we do without you and your easy to crack OSes?
* Terry walks to the lounge from the hall of offices and he's still holding one 
of the blue sheets. "Whacha find?"
<Eui-Tae> A laptop.
<Terry> Cool. Anything nifty in it?
<Eui-Tae> I'm finding out.
* Theodore watches Eui use the keybord. "Aah."
* Theodore makes a quick note. "Printing press + piano = profit."
* Terry nods. "Back inna bit." Then he turns around and goes back down the 
passage he came out of.
* Miya stands at the stairs and listens and waits.
<Nicolas> [Miya hears the people down the hall and the rain hitting the 
windows.]
* Terry passes by Miya shortly thereafter. "They gotta laptop."
<Nicolas> [Eui hacks his way into the file directories.  There are a lot of Word 
files and other types of saved documents, such as PDF files.  There is also a 
small hidden directory full of video files whose titles suggest porn.]
<Eui-Tae> First of all, this guy's got a whole shitload of porn on his 
computer...  Something you'd expect on a laptop, really.  But we're not looking 
for those...
<Nicolas> [For the record, it was specified as a small directory.  There are 
only a half-dozen titles.  Whether that is a "shitload" is up to Eui, of 
course.]
* Eui-Tae starts checking out the word documents and pdf files, looking to see 
if any of them release names or information on the institution.
* Theodore nods and looks slightly repulsed. He still makes a note though 
"Laptop commonly used to store porn. Use subsidiary company for such business."
<Theodore> Yes.  I think our top priority is to find out what that inhibitor was 
meant to do.
<Nicolas> (Is Eui looking at the file names, or opening them one after another?)
<Eui-Tae> (File names first.)
<Nicolas> [One of the major subdirectories is "Manning Institute".]
<Nicolas> [That's the most information you can get on that topic purely from 
filenames.]
* Eui-Tae mmms and starts browsing that directory.
<Nicolas> [The directory contains several hundred documents, and at least one 
video file.]
<Nicolas> [The documents seem to be similar in nature to the pile of things you 
were looking through earlier: documents related to your past, or your "past".  
The user identity of the computer's owner is Larry, which matches the name on 
the door of the office you got those documents, Larry MacDonald.]
* Terry continues down the hallway and finally covers the other guard.
* Theodore watches Eui use the touch pad. "Touch based control. Doesn't show 
signs of being pushed in. Probably too advanced to be usable."
* Theodore lets Eui work. He's grown up around machines and knows that you don't 
pester someone when they're using one. Industrial accidents are no fun.
* Eui-Tae types a bit, looking into the past of this serial killer we're in the 
building with. Also, what kind of 'treatments' have been given to us.
<Nicolas> [Eui finds that Mr. Manchester was a ne'er-do-well who did a tour in 
the Army in the early 90s and served in the Gulf War, where he received two 
commendations for bravery in the face of extraordinary circumstances.]
<Nicolas> [The ne'er-do-well pre-Army history is supplied by a series of police 
reports on him getting into drunken brawls in his early 20s, when he was listed 
as unemployed on the reports.]
<Nicolas> [Eui has the option of reading Mr. Manchester's military record.]
* Eui-Tae does so.
* Theodore glances at the screen since the information is staying up for a 
while. He frowns at what he reads.
<Nicolas> [Manchester was apparently in a Humvee that crashed in the desert.  He 
and three other soldiers had to cross the open desert through enemy territory, 
and they came across an enemy camp.  They killed all the enemy soldiers, though 
only Manchester himself survived.]
<Nicolas> [Manchester was honourably discharged after that due to a bullet wound 
in the leg he sustained.]
<Nicolas> [So ends his military record.]
* Theodore probably misses most of the content because he's not used to dealing 
with monitors, let alone weird LCD screen angle things.
<Nicolas> [Does Eui keep searching?]
<Eui-Tae> (Yes, Eui does.  Treatments on individuals please.)
* Terry walks back to the conference room. "Anythin' yet?"
<Eui-Tae> That's what's running around downstairs.
<Eui-Tae> I don't think you want to try fighting that.
* Theodore nods. "Military experience and two pistols."
<Nicolas> [Eui's search for treatments first yields a bunch of documents that 
are not related to recent events, like old medical histories.  Assuming he's not 
interested in those, I will move on to things relating to "Manning Institute" 
and "Treatment" together.]
<Nicolas> [Eui finds the following documents: five documents labelled "Consent 
Form (scan).jpg.", and "Notes 5/6".]
* Eui-Tae starts looking through these forms.
<Nicolas> [The consent forms listed were for "The Herbert J. Manning Institute 
of Advanced Neurochemical Research and Treatment".]
<Nicolas> [The consent forms are identical, except for the personal information.  
They give permission to the Manning Institute to use experimental medical drugs 
on the named individual, and a waiver of liability.]
<Nicolas> [The consent forms are of course for the four of you and Derick 
Manchester.]
<Theodore> If you care to read off who gave consent for each of us, I could 
write it down.  I'm not sure the other details about our alternate personas 
would be helpful.
* Theodore flips to a new notepad page to do just that, if Eui chooses to do so.
* Eui-Tae looks up who's on the forms, and assuming it's them, looks for the 
information.
<Nicolas> [They appear to have been signed by Eui's father, Miya's two parents, 
Terry's mother, Theodore's sister, and Manchester's wife.]
<Nicolas> (Technically, I've jumped the gun, since Eui wouldn't know who all 
those people are, but since people neglected to give me proper names for their 
whole families...)
<Theodore> (Also curious as to the date for Theo.)
<Nicolas> [All of the consent forms were signed between fourteen and ten months 
ago, assuming "now" is the date given by the computer's clock, August 25th, 
2005.]
<Nicolas> [Theo's timeline: the embezzlement happened four years ago.  The 
consent was signed a year ago.  It would fall early in the contribution 
payments, but two were made in the month before the consent form is dated.]
<Nicolas> [Theo believes that the scan, although blurry, bears his sister's real 
signature.  He has no comparison point for any of the others.]
* Theodore does copy down the names if he can read them/get them from Eui. Dates 
too I suppose.
<Nicolas> (Are you looking for other personal information on these forms?)
<Eui-Tae> (Not particularly, but what kind of expiremental chemicals?)
<Nicolas> [The chemicals listed correspond to ones on the formulae Eui found 
earlier.]
* Eui-Tae goes through further and tries to find what they were thought to have 
for ailments.
<Nicolas> [The consent forms lists the ailment just as "neurological 
irregularities".]
* Eui-Tae hmms and does a much wider scan, going up several branches, looking 
for possible ailments discovered once 'neurological irregularities' was narrowed 
down.
<Nicolas> [The closest he comes is a reference to "Jenkins' neurological 
research".  The term doesn't occur in the documents stored.  Oh, and these 
consent forms, of course.]
<Nicolas> [The aforementioned document is a transfer form for Derick Manchester 
from "Midvale Asylum" to the "Manning Institute" for the purposes of "Jenkins' 
neurological research".]
<Theodore> I suspect they just discovered an effective version of this 
treatment.  Or else the treatment makes us forget previous times it was applied 
to us.
<Eui-Tae> Hmmmm...  Or something.
<Eui-Tae> I'm wondering what the fuck is going down in this institute in the 
first place.
<Nicolas> [The general sense of the documents suggests that this computer did 
not belong to a doctor heavily involved in the drug treatments you were given, 
but who apparently did a lot of research on you five people.]
* Theodore nods. "Well, it seems to be operating within the law, if outside of 
ethical lines. I suspect our personas in this universe all did go insane before 
come here."
<Terry> That's kinda bad.
<Eui-Tae> Yeah, I don't like it.
<Theodore> Nor I, but I can't imagine voluntarily submitting myself to this sort 
of procedure.  I am certainly a legal adult, so the only logical conclusion is 
that for reasons of ailment I was not competent to represent myself and my 
sister signed for me.
* Eui-Tae looks into what kind of research this sucker did on him.
<Nicolas> [It's background research.]
<Nicolas> [And Eui finds a bunch of posts he made to message boards.]
<Nicolas> [His Rith identity only, not Crosis.]
* Eui-Tae looks at the posts.
<Terry> I'm totally not.  I can't even drive yet!
<Eui-Tae> Not legally.
* Theodore nods and reads off the name for Terry and the date. "That your 
mother?"
* Terry nods. "Yeah."
<Eui-Tae> Hey, this thing's got some information on us.  Let's see what my 
alter-ego said...
* Theodore nods. "Good idea. If we can understand exactly how our alter-egos 
were insane, we might understand the treatment."
* Miya stands guard. Go her!
<Nicolas> [Miya is reasonably certain no one is coming up the stairs right now.]
* Miya stays alert!
<Nicolas> [Eui pulls up an angry rant about "Future Plastics", the company that 
caused the chemical spill in Korea.  The rant is about how they have to be held 
accountable.  Eui can neither confirm nor deny that it is his writing style, 
though he thinks it's similar enough.]
<Eui-Tae> Mmmm....
* Eui-Tae digs a bit deeper into his past.
<Eui-Tae> (School records and previous medical treatments?)
<Nicolas> [Eui's school records seem accurate, as far as he can recall his 
grades and classes, though the dates are many years off.  The last year 
represented, however, is 2002-2003, the same year as the MB post he just read.]
<Nicolas> [Eui's courses may be slightly different to reflect the different 
curriculum of the past.]
<Nicolas> (You get what I mean about different curriculum?  I have no clue if 
Eui thinks he took some sort of future school courses.)
<Nicolas> [Eui's medical records are not that complete, and are all from Korea.  
The major items that stick out are that he apparently underwent chemotherapy in 
2004 and had invasive surgery to remove a tumour from his right leg, which was a 
success.]
<Nicolas> [Eui also found, incidentally, that he spent he spent most of 2004 in 
Korea in the hospital, even following his operation.  He was eventually 
transferred to the Manning Institute in late 2004.]
* Terry sits and waits because there's a maximum number of people who can huddle 
over a laptop.
<Nicolas> [Theo and Eui hear something coming from the direction of the stairs.  
Miya hears someone in the stairwell; it sounds to her like it's someone going 
down from the second to the first floor, since the noise is receding.]
* Theodore grabs the mop and the tray.
* Terry hears nothing!
* Miya tenses, but she doesn't do anything, just stays still.
* Eui-Tae closes the laptop quietly.
<Eui-Tae> (Oh, shutting it down too.)
* Theodore heads out into the hallway. He looks to Miya for guidance.
* Miya looks at Theodore and puts a finger to her lips.
* Terry looks up at Theodore passes. "What's up?"
* Theodore nods and makes the same gesture to Terry.
* Terry shuts up now.
* Miya waits a good while, then says, barely above a whisper, "He's going to the 
first floor."
* Eui-Tae finds the carrying case for the laptop and puts it away.
* Theodore nods and relaxes a bit.
<Miya> Are we ready to go down?
* Theodore nods and speaks quietly. "I don't think we'll find anything else on 
this floor."
* Terry looks around. "I kinda wish I knew where my 'tech were, but I guess they 
don't exist here or somethin."
<Theodore> Tech?
<Terry> Air-Tech! They're totally awesome! They're, like, motorized 
rollerblades!
* Theodore smiles and nods.
<Theodore> Right, next floor then.
* Theodore walks over to Miya.
* Miya nods. She starts to sneak down. Sneakity sneak.
* Theodore does the same.
* Eui-Tae puts his new laptop away and follows the rest of the group, trying to 
be quiet about it.
<Nicolas> [Eui stumbles on the stairs, and from his laptop case's side pocket 
falls a can of Coke.  It bounces down the stairs, clang, clang, clang.]
* Miya lets out a small squeak and tries to stop it from going anywhere past 
her.
* Eui-Tae winces.
<Nicolas> [Terry, Eui, and Theo hear the distant sound of running footsteps 
start immediately after, on the first floor, getting louder.]
* Terry whispers. "Aww man, he heard that!"
<Nicolas> [Eui stumbled on the top step in the dark; he's last down and 
basically still on the third floor.  Miya's halfway down, on a landing between 
the two floors, where the stairs bend.]
* Eui-Tae stops and freezes.
<Nicolas> [Miya grabs the pop can as it arrives at where she is.]
* Terry whispers again. "We gotta go back. I can hear him runnin'!'
* Miya catches it. She looks up at Terry's whisper. "Huh?"
<Nicolas> [There are emergency red lights in the stairwell, incidentally.]
<Miya> (Cool, easier for him to see me with!)
* Terry whispers louder and more urgently. "The  crazy guy's comin' back up!"
* Eui-Tae nods and rushes back upstairs.
<Nicolas> [Everyone can hear the sound of a door opening at the bottom of the 
stairwell.]
* Theodore rushes up.
* Miya 's eyes widen, and she looks back down the stairs.
* Theodore whispers. "Miya. Up, now!"
<Nicolas> [Miya's line of sight goes down to the second floor, where the stairs 
bend back again and there is a door.]
<Miya> Oh- oh, go.  Go!
* Terry starts running down the stairs to get Miya and doesn't bother being 
quiet about it. "Gotta go up!"
* Miya backs up, then starts making her way back up the stairs, slowly.
<Nicolas> [Miya thinks she hears someone on the stairs walking up slowly.  Terry 
knows he does.]
<Nicolas> [Eui can also hear someone on the stairs.]
* Theodore curses softly without using any actual expletives. He rushes over to 
the walkman room and the desk, which presumably is smaller than the door. He 
whispers to Eui. "Need barricade."
* Theodore puts down his mop and tray on the floor. He tries not to be loud 
about it.
* Miya looks back over her shoulder. Chances are, she's going even slower.
* Terry keeps going down until he's even with Miya and then reaches for one of 
her arms. "Gotta go faster."
<Theodore> (I'm not trying to block off the door just yet, just trying to get it 
in position to do so once everybody's up.)
<Nicolas> [Theo can't move the desk.  Damn solid oak thing.  It looks great, 
though.]
* Theodore keeps pushing. He whispers more urgently "Help!"
* Eui-Tae nods and starts trying to move the desk.
* Miya lets Terry grab her, and she starts moving faster with his help, though 
it's not like she runs. She nearly falls a few times.
<Nicolas> [The footsteps sound closer, just below the second floor now.]
* Terry does his best to keep Miya from falling down and run up at the same 
time.
<Nicolas> [Terry manages to support Miya's weight.]
<Nicolas> [The second Eui starts pushing the desk, it slides easily across the 
floor and through the door, getting there in plenty of time.  Theo may feel 
emasculated if he wishes.]
* Theodore looks through the stairway door to see how close the others are.
<Nicolas> [The footsteps have passed the second floor but are below the 
landing.]
* Eui-Tae hides out of view. "Damn killers..."
<Nicolas> [Terry has reached the door, dragging Miya up with him.]
<Nicolas> [The footsteps sound like they're just around the corner on the 
landing.]
* Terry pulls Miya off to one side. "This's all bad."
* Theodore waits for the kids to get through the door and then pushes the desk 
into place.
* Miya gets through, mostly by being dragged.
* Theodore then reaches over the desk to drag shut the door getting out the keys 
with his other hand.
<Nicolas> [The door is barricaded by the desk.]
<Nicolas> [A shot rings out on the other side of the door.]
* Miya yelps.
* Theodore quickly tries to lock the door. He ducks low as he does so.
* Miya turns to face the door, her eyes wide.
<Nicolas> [The sound of footsteps on the other side of the door gets louder, 
approaching the top.]
* Terry tries to pull Miya farther away from the door.
* Theodore speaks urgently and quietly. "Those other doors, the two closed ones, 
does anyone know what they do."
<Miya> Huh?  The- the elevators?
<Miya> They go up and down.
* Terry nods. "Yeah."
<Theodore> Right, elevators.  They're moved by a cord, yes?
<Miya> Um, I don't know.
<Terry> Think so.
* Eui-Tae nods.
<Eui-Tae> Yeah, they do.  What are you thinking?
* Terry pushes the down button.
<Nicolas> [The elevators don't move any more now than they did when Theo tried.]
<Theodore> Manual way down.
<Nicolas> [The handle of the door to the stairs jiggles of its own accord.]
* Miya backs away, her eyes still wide. It's like she can't stop staring.
* Theodore tries to add to the barricade as best he can. He grabs chairs or the 
like to reinforce the door.
<Nicolas> [Theo sees the door handle turn freely now, apparently unlocked, but 
the door itself doesn't open, probably due to the barricade.]
* Theodore pales. "Break down the doors or get ready to fight."
* Theodore keeps working on the barricade.
<Miya> I'm ready.
<Nicolas> [The door and barricades shudder, but hold.]
* Miya sounds disturbingly sure of herself. "Go break them down. I'll try."
* Eui-Tae looks through his bag of stuff, rapidly trying to check for anything 
that'd be not-so-nice if thrown against a body.
<Nicolas> [Eui finds a power adaptor that looks pretty heavy.]
<Nicolas> [Eui's medical bag contains a knee testing hammer that might work as a 
weapon.]
<Nicolas> [Eui finds a chemical that would really sting and burn the eyes, and 
several that you wouldn't want to drink if you valued your consciousness and/or 
life.  He also has syringes he can load with these things.]
<Nicolas> [Eui has a vial of a fast acting sedative, as well.]
<Nicolas> [It needs to be injected into a major artery, though.]
<Terry> Miya? I, uh, don' think you can break the metal doors 'n stuff.
<Miya> I'm not gonna try.  I'm gonna try to stop him so you can do whatever.
* Theodore nods and grabs his tray. He rushes over to the elevator doors and 
tries to force it in between them.
* Miya stays right where she is, facing the door, and takes a few deep breaths. 
She tries not to be too scared.
<Nicolas> [Theo easily slides the metal tray between the doors, actually wedging 
them further open as he does so.]
* Terry stand in hall, awed at Theo opening the doors with a tray!
<Theodore> Terry.  Help me pull these open.
* Terry pulls.
* Theodore works on spreading the doors.
<Nicolas> [Terry fails to open the elevator doors.]
* Eui-Tae loads some of the sedative in one of the syringes. "Do any of you know 
how to use a syringe?"
* Terry is still pulling on the elevator doors. "Kinda, sorta, maybe?"
<Theodore> No.
<Miya> Uh, stick it into someone and hope it works?
<Eui-Tae> Well, if we get him holding still, you can put this in an artery and 
inject it; it'll slow him down.  Probably knock him out with how much I'm 
putting in here.
<Miya> Okay.
<Theodore> I don't think he'll hold still.  Eui, we could use your help.
* Theodore keeps trying to open the doors more.
<Terry> Ya do know there's this big ol' drop on the other side of this righ'?
<Theodore> I know.
<Nicolas> [The table holding the door shut is shoved back a bit and the door 
opens a crack.]
* Eui-Tae walks over and helps to hold the doors back. "Get that elevator open."
* Miya moves forward and uses her mighty muscles and small frame to try to shove 
the barricade forward again.
<Nicolas> [The desk is slid back into place.]
* Miya keeps holding it there.
* Theodore keeps trying with the doors.
<Nicolas> [There is the sound of a gunshot and a bullet breaks through the door, 
way above the heads of Miya and Eui, to lodge in the far wall.]
* Miya screams.
<Terry> Oh maaaaan.
<Theodore> Blast.  We need something to shove it open more.  Simple machines, 
mop, no, it will snap.
* Eui-Tae winces.
* Miya keeps trying to hold it in place, staying low so there should be more 
wood between her and the bullets.
<Nicolas> [From the other side of the door comes a shout, in a deep male voice.  
"Just surrender, you bastards, and I won't hurt you."  He sounds angry.]
* Miya calls, "We didn't do anything!"
* Miya sounds like a scared fourteen year old, because that's what she is.
* Terry adds. "At all!"
<Theodore> (Okay.  Would a table with sharp corners help get the door open?  
Possibly in combination with using the mop as a lever.  The lever could open it 
a little and the table could consolidate the gain.)
<Nicolas> [The believes he could wedge the table in the lounge into the crack.]
<Theodore> (Is that one he could carry alone or would he need help?
<Nicolas> [Theo could carry it alone.]
<Nicolas> [There is a pause, then the voice on the other side says, "Just tell 
me how to get back to my ship."]
<Miya> I don't know!  I don't know anything.
<Miya> I'm- I'm lost too, okay?  I don't know.
<Terry> I don' even know where here is! Ya gotta believe us!
* Miya sounds like she's going to cry. "Don't shoot."
* Theodore quietly rushes over to the lounge to grab the table. He climbs over 
the desk if need be.
<Nicolas> ["I won't hurt you if you don't try anything."]
<Miya> You promise?
<Eui-Tae> Hey, we have no idea where your ship is.  Didn't you already look up 
here for it?
<Nicolas> [There is the sound of laughter.  "Look up there?"]
<Miya> Um.
* Theodore then hauls the table back to the elevator, taking care when passing 
the barricade.
<Nicolas> [Theo successfully opens the elevator doors wide enough for a person 
to get through, wedging them open with the table.  There is a drop on the other 
side, into darkness.]
<Eui-Tae> Yeah, look up there?  The guards are already dead; we just want to get 
out of here.
<Nicolas> ["What planet are you from?"]
<Miya> I don't know anymore.
<Terry> Earth, just, uh.... probably not this one?
<Nicolas> ["The Earth was destroyed centuries ago, during the second war with 
the Kabaleskreton-prel."]
<Terry> This one kinda wasn't.
<Miya> I- I don't know.  I'm from Earth, but I don't know.  I'm from the past, 
or something.  Past now.  Maybe way before you.
<Nicolas> ["You're part of this damn trick!  Like those guards."]
<Miya> No!
<Terry> No way!
* Eui-Tae says under his breath. "Oh great."
<Terry> Ya gatta believe us!
<Theodore> Thank goodness.  ::Theo rushes over to the office and grabs his mop.  
He goes back to the elevator shaft and tries to see if a cord is hanging in the 
middle of it by swinging, gently, the mop.
<Nicolas> [Theo finds a pair of thick cords.]
<Nicolas> ["It's the oldest trick in the book!  Tell me that my world doesn't 
exist so I'll reveal secret information.  Classic interrogation technique."]
<Miya> No!  I believe you!
<Eui-Tae> Then don't tell us anything!
<Terry> What if we don' ask?
<Miya> My world exists, too, and it's not this one, I promise!  That's the way 
we all are!
<Nicolas> ["Fine.  I'll leave you alone for now.  But don't try sneaking up on 
me."]
* Theodore whispers to Terry. "I'm going to take the cord down. When I'm down, 
if it's not far down, you guys can hang down from the ledge and I'll catch you. 
If it's too far down, I'll try to draw him off with a distraction.
<Miya> I won't, promise.  I don't want to hurt anybody.
<Eui-Tae> We won't.
<Terry> 'Kay!
* Theodore blinks at this change. He stays quiet.
<Terry> Uh.... can we go the next floor down an stuff?
<Miya> It's okay.  He won't hurt us.
<Nicolas> ["Maybe later.  Stay up there for now."]
<Miya> Are you gonna come get us?
<Theodore> (There's a reason Theo hasn't said a damn thing.)
<Theodore> (Better if he doesn't realize there's an adult.)
<Nicolas> ["I'll see.  If you're just innocent victims, you have nothing to 
worry about.  If you're more Prel scum, you're dead."]
<Miya> I don't even know what a Prel is.  What do they look like?
<Eui-Tae> Good thing we're victims, otherwise we'd be dead.
<Nicolas> [There is the sound of retreating footsteps.]
<Miya> ... 'kay.
* Theodore waits for now.
* Miya sighs, slumping to the floor and against the desk. She's shaking.
* Terry slides against the wall. "Kay, that was scary...  Let's not meet him 
'gain?"
<Miya> Uh, he's gonna come back.  And- and we can't go down unless he does, or 
he'll shoot us.
<Miya> If I had my powers I'd... but I don't.
* Eui-Tae sighs.
<Miya> Let's... maybe there's something up here that'll give me my powers back.
<Miya> After I stop shaking.
* Theodore speaks quietly. "We could use the time to make a rope."
* Miya sniffs.
<Terry> He didn't say we couldn't go up though.
<Miya> And then what?
<Terry> We might find whatcher lookin' for?
* Miya swallows and nods. "O- okay."
<Theodore> We could fashion a rope and grappling hook to get to the roof, but I 
doubt there's files up there.
* Miya gets to her feet and starts stumbling back to the offices, still shaken.
<Nicolas> (Which office?)
<Miya> (The chalkboard one.)
* Terry nods. "I'ma gonna go get the pizza." And he goes through the door to the 
lounge.
<Nicolas> [Terry finds the pizza.  It is good, if you like cold vegetarian 
pizza.]
* Theodore crawls under the table being used to wedge the door open and tries to 
poke gently down with the mop. Idea being he might hit the top of the elevator 
if the elevator is on the first floor. Emphasis on minimal sound.
<Nicolas> [Theo just manages to tap the top of the elevator.]
* Miya starts to look through the office. She checks the board, makes no sense 
of it, checks books, and checks in the desk.
* Theodore pulls of the mop, satisfied.
* Terry takes the pizza and some of the comic books back into the hall and then 
realizes that he doesn't know which door Miya went into, so he starts looking 
into them.
<Nicolas> [Miya finds office supplies and a Snickers bar.  Eui had previously 
taken a notebook from there.]
<Miya> (Miya doesn't know that!)
* Miya takes the Snickers bar. She leaves, looks around, and then goes into the 
empty office. She starts checking in the desk there, even if it is the empty 
office.
<Nicolas> [Miya finds nothing.  It's completely empty.]
<Eui-Tae> So now what guys?  Making a rope might be the best idea.
* Theodore then crawls out from under the table and walks to the lounge. He 
speaks quietly, "The elevator is on the first floor. I can lower myself over the 
ledge without much trouble. The rest could then get down that way. Trouble is, 
we'll need to open the doors on the second floor or find a hatch for the top of 
the elevator. So I agree on the rope."
* Eui-Tae nods to Theo.
* Terry sees Miya exit and hurries over with his pizza box. "Hey Miya?"
* Miya keeps looking through probably empty drawers. "Huh?"
* Miya leaves and goes to the TV room. She starts looking around in that desk.
<Nicolas> [Miya finds a couple more books, a copy of People Magazine, and three 
cassette tapes.]
* Theodore looks to Eui. "You know knots?"
<Eui-Tae> Heck no.
<Theodore> I suppose we should use the bedsheets, I can't think of anything 
better.
<Eui-Tae> That's what they always use in the TV shows.
<Terry> Think foods s'postah be good after shocks an' stuff an' I'm gettin' a 
bit hungry an' I don' think he's comin back for a bit so was thinkin' alla us 
should eat, ya know?
<Miya> Um, yeah, but... I dunno, I might throw it up right now.
* Terry puts the pizza back down on the table he first picked it up from. "Ah 
yeah, guess  you're right. An' that'd be bad."
<Miya> Yeah.
* Miya blinks. She pulls out the cassettes and adds them to her inventory.
* Miya looks through the People magazine real quick and checks the books.
<Nicolas> [The People magazine informs her who the Sexiest People Alive are.  
The books are texts on psychology.]
* Terry walks back out into the hall and then heads for the lab- maybe this is 
his world and they just tried to dissect his 'tech or something.
* Miya closes the drawer and hurries out of the office. "I found something!" she 
says all triumphant like before walking back to the lounge.
* Theodore gathers all remaining blankets from the cells and brings them to the 
lounge while that searching happened.
* Terry probably hasn't made it out of the lounge yet so he stays put.
* Miya manages to make it to the lounge, pops the tape out of the walkman, and 
checks the cassettes she has. Are they labeled?
<Nicolas> [One is labelled "T. Phelps, 5/7/05".  The others are unlabelled.]
* Miya takes the labeled one, pops it in, and presses play.
* Eui-Tae walks into the lounge, taking the chemicals out. "Hmmm... We could 
throw a mattress out to cushion any fall we have?"
* Theodore grins. "Good idea, Eui."
* Theodore then starts to work on trying to knot the blankets together.
<Terry> Oh, hey more tapes.
* Terry walks over to see what they're about.
<Miya> Uh huh.
<Nicolas> [Male voice:  "Good afternoon, Terry."]
* Miya blinks. She looks at Terry.
<Nicolas> [Terry's voice replies, sounding distant and slurred, "Hello."]
* Terry looks back at Miya in confusion.
<Miya> That's you.
* Theodore glances over at the cassette tapes. "Hmm." He then goes back to the 
knotting.
<Terry> Yeah, only I don't remember that guy.
<Theodore> Well, alter-ego you.
* Miya nods. She goes back to watching the tape.
* Terry listens to the tape.
<Nicolas> [Male voice:  "How are the games going?"  Terry replies, still 
sounding distant, "Good.  I'm gettin' better an' stuff."]
* Eui-Tae listens.
<Eui-Tae> That don't sound good.
<Eui-Tae> 'n stuff.
<Theodore> Well, I'm sure we can get you to a school when we get out-- oh, you 
mean the slurring.
<Terry> Yeah. I'm usually all hyped up 'bout games an' stuff. 'Less they're 
boring or somethin'.
* Theodore goes back to the knots.
<Nicolas> [Slurred Terry voice continues, "Meri used my Time Wizard to make a 
Black Luster Soldier into a Black Luster Soldier Beyond.  It had rocket boots."  
There is a pause, then the other voice says, "I see.  Like yours?"  Terry 
replies, vaguely irritable.  "Course not."]
<Eui-Tae> (ROCKET BOOTS! XD)
<Terry> (BLACK LUSTER BEYOND!)
<Miya> (XD)
* Theodore goes hmm and keeps working.
<Nicolas> [Terry launches into a complete summary of a Yu-Gi-Oh game.  At its 
conclusion, he says, "I'm tired."  The other voice says.  "Okay.  That's 
enough."  The tape ends.]
<Miya> ... Wow.
<Eui-Tae> Man, you were out of it.
* Miya removes the tape and puts it aside. She picks up one of the unmarked ones 
and puts it in.
<Nicolas> [This tape is empty.]
<Miya> Did that really happen?
* Miya blinks. She removes that and puts in the last one.
* Terry nods. "I kinda remember that duel though... My deck totally ate itself."
* Theodore tugs on the two blankets to see if the knot held. "It must have. Did 
that version of you know anything from your world?"
* Miya hits play.
* Terry gives Theo an odd look. "Uh, Meri doesn't exist here or somethin', 
'member?"
<Eui-Tae> Yeah, she's different.
<Theodore> Right, but we already knew they knew about Meri.  Anything special 
powers wise?  Perhaps this tech you've mentioned?
* Eui-Tae nods.
<Nicolas> [The voice is the same as the one from earlier who was talking with 
Terry.  "The time difference is the most puzzling aspect, in many ways.  It 
occurs in all but Phelps."]
<Terry> Sorta? I mean if he'da ever seen 'em he'd know they didn't have rockets. 
Ya know?
* Miya listens to the tape.
* Theodore nods. "So our alter-egos knew about our special equipment or powers, 
but didn't have access to them."
<Nicolas> ["I wish I'd had more time to investigate, but the procedure will 
occur next week.  After that, if all goes as planned, it will be a moot point.  
Unless Jenkins is right, of course."]
<Miya> Jenkins?
<Theodore> His office had all the papers.  We've got his laptop.
* Eui-Tae nods.
<Theodore> Wait, no...
<Theodore> The laptop mentioned him.  Sorry, I lost track.
<Terry> ... What did Jenkins say 'gain?
* Theodore keeps knotting. "Maybe you could look through the papers, Eui, and 
see what we have with his name on it."
<Eui-Tae> I, hmmm...
<Miya> Oh, there's a laptop?  Um, what was on it?  Was there anything about us?
<Nicolas> ["Meanwhile, on a personal note, I continue to be uncomfortable with 
what I've learned of Godspeed's presence here."]
* Miya blinks.
<Nicolas> ["He can say it's all above board all he wants, but the fact remains, 
we were basically paid off."]
* Theodore tries to repeat the knot he did the first time. "Wait... he?"
<Miya> Yeah, he said 'he'.
<Nicolas> ["Also, it's Lucy's birthday tomorrow.  I should remember to get her 
flowers."]
<Eui-Tae> Yeah, tons of research.
<Eui-Tae> Low batteries, though.
<Eui-Tae> Lucy's?
<Miya> Um, do I live in this world?  Someone else... 'cause of the train, I 
mean.
<Theodore> Also consent forms.  Signed by both parents.
<Miya> My parents?
<Nicolas> [The tape ends.]
* Theodore reads the names. "Or guardians. I'm guessing here."
* Terry looks at Miya. "Didn't I tell ya 'bout the laptop back in the hall?"
* Miya stops the tape and looks at them. "That's- that's my parents, but..."
<Miya> I'm sorry, I don't remember.
* Eui-Tae thinks for a few moments...
<Miya> My parents hate me.
<Terry> Kay... lots happened, and that's not cool.
<Theodore> So Miranda was transferring the money at my request.  But if I had 
that kind of control, why did she need to sign the consent form?
* Theodore tests his next knot.
<Miya> I dunno.
<Terry> It's way over my head.
* Miya puts the recorder down and gets up, stumbling over to the office with the 
walkman. She starts looking in that desk.
<Nicolas> [Apparently the Snickers bar was supposed to be here, not in the other 
one.  Anyway, you find office supplies galore.]
* Miya checks the shelves for any more cassettes, which she probably doesn't 
find.
* Miya even stands on her toes!
<Nicolas> [Miya finds nothing but books on brain chemistry.]
<Theodore> None of us seem typically insane right now.  We're quite lucid, our 
memories our consistent, the only trouble is they don't match this world.  That 
doesn't fit with what I know of lunatics.  Do you two agree?
* Terry nods.
<Eui-Tae> Yeah.  But it could just be mind-altering drugs.
* Miya sticks her tongue out.
* Miya goes to the paper-filled room.
<Nicolas> [There are lots of papers on that there desk.]
<Nicolas> [Lots and lots and lots.]
* Miya boggles at the papers for a moment, then starts looking in the desk. 
Probably more papers.
<Nicolas> [Miya finds... more papers.  She's psychic!]
* Miya is! It was a latent mutant power, like 80% of the Marvel population!
<Nicolas> [Miya also finds a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh cards held together with a plastic 
band.]
* Theodore nods at Eui's comment. "Well, let's say that our alter-egos knew just 
enough of this world to know that they shouldn't be here. They weren't insane in 
typical ways; we're all here presumably because it's a special puzzling case."
<Theodore> Does this make sense so far?
* Terry nods like he understood any of that.
* Miya blinks. She takes out the deck. "Terry!"
* Terry looks at the hall door and calls back. "Yeah?"
<Miya> I found more cards!
<Terry> Cool.
* Terry hurries over there!
* Miya tosses the deck to Terry once he reaches the doorway.
<Nicolas> [Terry catches it.]
* Terry is good like that, and he checks the bottom card.
<Nicolas> [Terry sees a common card.]
* Theodore looks over to Eui for his opinion.
* Theodore tests the second knot.
<Nicolas> [Theo's knot holds there as well.]
<Eui-Tae> Could be...  Maybe what we think we know was implanted instead, 
though?
* Theodore shakes his head. "I disagree. If it weren't for those quirks, we 
wouldn't have been in this facility in the first place."
* Miya picks up a pile of paper and carries it over to the lounge for better 
reading. She plunks it on the floor and frowns a little.
* Terry pulls the band off. "Where'd you find these?"
<Nicolas> [Terry sees that the cards are mostly commons, with a few mildly rare 
ones.  It's a fairly small deck.  He doesn't recognize it as one he's seen 
before.]
<Miya> In the desk.
* Miya blinks, then gets a bright idea!
* Miya rushes (walks quickly) to the supply closet and gets a cart!
* Miya pushes the cart back to the office and starts loading all of the papers 
onto the thing. Yes, all of them.
<Nicolas> [Miya succeeds!]
<Nicolas> [After a few minutes.]
* Miya beams after the few minutes are up. She's totally getting this!
* Miya pushes the cart out of the office, by the knot-makers, and into the red 
flashy light.
<Eui-Tae> Unless there was something someone wanted to get you out of the way 
for.
<Theodore> Possible, but seems unlikely.  Regardless of the source, our alter-
egos have some of our memories.  But they don't have our lucidity.
<Eui-Tae> Given they were hyped up on whatever they're giving us, that doesn't 
surprise me.
* Miya starts pulling the papers off of the cart and sorting them out, into a 
Japanese pile, a Korean pile, a Terry Phelps pile, a Godspeed pile, and an Other 
pile.
<Nicolas> [Miya's sorting will take some time.]
* Miya uses the first pile she got, too, without the cart.
* Terry wraps the cards back up. "Weird, it's like some new kids deck."
* Miya is seated on the floor doing this. "Maybe he wanted to play." Pause. "Um, 
can you help?"
<Terry> Huh? Oh sure.
* Terry walks to the piles and looks them over. (Hmm, can he tell the difference 
between Japanese and Korean?)
<Theodore> But somehow, I got my act somewhat together.  Maybe I called in a 
favor from Misty, because her embezzling was likely what drove alter-ego me 
nuts.   And we got a treatment that brought ourselves to the foreground, rather 
than the alter-ego personality that originally belonged in this body.
* Eui-Tae nods. "My alter-ego got cancer in the leg and, well... Jae-Eun died 
according to the papers. Which seems to have made my alter-ego go crazy. Hell, I 
still wanna go ape-shit on that company."
<Nicolas> [Miya finds an award she won in a gymnastic competition three years 
ago.]
<Nicolas> [It has her name on it.]
* Miya blinks at the paper and looks at it. "... Oh, so I did do gym..."
<Theodore> So, our alter-selves probably never had powers at all.  And the 
chemicals instead made us lucid.
* Terry starts sorting paper but starts a new pile for "Some asian language I 
can't read."
<Miya> And I'm alive, too.
<Terry> Alive's always good!
* Theodore goes on to the next blanket.
<Nicolas> [Theo's rope is now about halfway there.]
* Miya starts looking through them. "There's a lot of stuff in here. Maybe 
there's some stuff about us being all confused?"
* Eui-Tae goes and helps sorting.
* Miya keeps looking. "Didja really get cancer?"
<Terry> Maybe?
* Eui-Tae sorts the 'Asian Terry can't read' into 'Asian Eui can read' and 
'Asian Eui can't read'. "Ii don't remember getting cancer, but the papers say I 
did."
<Terry> Would that leave a mark or somethin'?
<Miya> I was wondering if it hurt.
* Theodore keeps going.
* Terry sorts paper!
<Theodore> The trouble is, if I'm right, we may still be stuck here.
<Nicolas> [Papers are sorted.  In a long, slow process.]
* Miya tries to find anything about outbursts she had in school. Or, oh! 
Gymnastics!
* Terry glances at papers that might be about him, but mostly he's just moving 
it around.
<Theodore> Do my papers have anything about Miranda Godspeed?  Or special 
payments?
<Nicolas> [There is a long newspaper article entitled "Godspeed Heiress Flees 
Country Amidst Investigation Into Missing Funds".]
<Nicolas> [Miya finds one reference to an outburst in school, on an old report 
card.  She also finds plenty of local newspaper clippings on her gymnastic 
career.]
* Miya looks at these. "It's so weird."
<Eui-Tae> I...  I don't remember if it hurt or not.  They said Chemotherapy, 
though, so all my hair must've fallen out at some point.
<Terry> Whao, good thing it all grew back huh?
* Miya looks at Eui. "Did it?"
* Eui-Tae rubs his hand through his hair. "Apparently."
<Theodore> Hmm.. inhibitor.  Maybe it was made to inhibit one personality.  But 
the researchers seemed uncertain about which personality would be suppressed.
<Eui-Tae> Could be.
* Miya tries arranging her own papers in a timeline. Maybe she gets crazier over 
time!
<Theodore> Ever find any of the Jenkins papers again?
* Terry blinks and then points at the misc. pile. "Uh... maybe that one?"
<Theodore> Could you please check?  I want to get this rope done just in case.
* Terry stops sorting the big pile and starts in on the little one. "Kay."
* Eui-Tae starts reading through the papers on him.
<Nicolas> [The earliest document on Miya is her birth certificate.  The last one 
with any relation to her is the blacked out police report.  She is filling in 
the middle.]
<Miya> (When's her birthdate?)
<Nicolas> [Twelve years too late, to the day.]
<Miya> ... Wow.
* Miya shakes her head. "I have the same birthday, just... later. Just-" She 
blinks and shakes her head, wiping her eyes.
<Terry> This's all weird.
* Miya starts looking for papers close to the train thing and the blackened 
report.
<Nicolas> [Miya finds a newspaper from that period, from Japan.]
* Miya looks through it.
* Miya skims for interesting headlines! Dude.
<Miya> Do you think we're really them?
<Miya> Maybe we got switched.  I remember, they talked about time travel at 
home.
<Miya> And- and where things happen different and stuff.
<Theodore> I find the switch option preferable.  But it seems like it wasn't a 
clean switch if that's what happened.
<Nicolas> [Miya finds a brief article on the death of Ken by horrible train 
accident.  It talks about him a little and says that police have said there is 
an ongoing investigation and declined further comment.]
<Nicolas> [Eui finds a document entitled "Settlement Deal", offering ten 
thousand dollars from the Plastics company in full and final settlement of any 
claim against them.  It's in Korean, filled out with the name of Eui's father, 
and unsigned.]
<Terry> I dunno.  I mean anybody got scars they aren't spostah?
<Miya> Um, I already checked.
<Theodore> Anything on Jenkins?
<Nicolas> [Nothing on Jenkins in the documents about your past.]
<Nicolas> [Or your counterparts.  You know what I mean.]
* Terry looks at Miya. "An?'"
<Miya> And I don't, but... um, what if you do?
<Terry> Uh... I haven't looked.
<Miya> There's a bathroom.
* Miya puts that paper down and starts looking for anything else around there.
* Terry nods and goes over there.
<Nicolas> [The bathroom has a very dim light.]
* Terry closes the door and ... GETS NEKKID!
<Theodore> I suppose I could check his office again.
<Miya> Okay.
* Theodore gets up and walks over to the office.
<Theodore> (What's there?)
<Nicolas> [Desk, chairs, lots of books, rolling blackboard, no more pizza 
because it was removed.]
<Nicolas> [There are equations visible on the rolling blackboard.]
* Theodore starts looking through the books. Anything bookmarked, dog eared, 
standing out. That sort of thing.
* Terry checks for scars and to see if his elbows and knees are all scraped up 
like they're supposed to be.
<Nicolas> [Terry's elbows and knees look as he would expect them to.]
* Miya finishes her timeline, hopefully.
<Nicolas> [Miya arranges the few documents she had sorted out as belonging to 
her.]
<Nicolas> [Or being in Japanese.]
* Terry puts his PJs back on and walks back out. "Hey.... where'd everybody else 
go?"
<Miya> Um, Theodore went to check the office.
* Miya points at Eui-Tae. "He's right there."
* Eui-Tae waves.
* Terry blinks. "Oh, sorry, didn' see ya. Anyway, I think I'm me, or leas' I 
can't tell if I'm not, ya know?"
* Miya nods. "Um. What about everyone else?"
<Miya> Like, my life in this thing's not that different from my life at home.
* Terry looks at Eui-Tai. "Dunno, they're gonna haveta go look for themselves 
right?"
<Nicolas> [Theo finds a well worn book called "The Chemical Mind" with lots of 
highlighting in it.]
* Theodore grabs the book and goes back to the main room. He starts glancing 
through it.
<Nicolas> [Theo finds the book surprisingly easy to follow, rapidly absorbing 
the concepts laid out.  He now thinks that he would have a much better chance at 
understanding the various chemical equations strewn about.]
* Terry sits down again and glances over his own pile of papers. "They've gotta 
lotta stuff on us."
<Eui-Tae> 'course they would.
<Eui-Tae> They need to find everything on us.
<Miya> But I don't even know if we're really them anymore.
* Miya thinks. "Hey, Eui-Tae?"
<Eui-Tae> Yes Miya?
<Miya> Um.  When did you get chemo?
<Miya> I mean, fixed for the cancer and stuff?
<Eui-Tae> Um...
* Eui-Tae checks! When did he get fixed for cancer?
<Nicolas> [Eui finds it was in 2003.]
<Nicolas> [And break!]